Graves at Carlisle don’t always have the correct names, markers, dates of death, or birth dates. In the case of Earnest Knocks Off, he has two headstones among the 200 students who are buried at the school. Unfortunately the supporting paper archives are incomplete, which isn’t helpful as tribes demand the return of the remains […]
This article discusses how, from the late 1800s through the early 1970s, the American government removed American Indian children from their parents and placed them in government-run boarding schools as part of the plan to decimate American Indians as a distinct people. It discusses the schools’ inhumane living conditions as well as the abuse suffered […]
Many former students identify the most painful legacy of Canada’s Indian Residential Schools as the loss of First Nations culture and language resulting from cultural denigration, religious indoctrination, and the removal of children from their families. The federal government insists that no cause of action exists for loss of culture or language arising from the […]
This article considers, from the experience of the Indian Residential Schools Settlement, the limitations of the current formal justice system and the common ways that lawyers and parties act within it. Looking at the combinations of lawsuits, settlement negotiations, structured compensation schemes, truth and reconciliation processes, and memorial and education programs now provided for in […]
The recent flood of civil litigation suits filed against the federal government and four major Christian churches by former students of Canadian Native residential schools threatens to overwhelm the court system and bankrupt several of the Church organizations involved. Litigation has proved problematic as a mechanism through which to respond to the abuse and other […]
Presiding Bishop Katherine Jefferts Schori encourages more people to learn about the Doctrine of Discovery and how the colonial idea of “free land” has continued to allow the descendants of settlers, homesteaders, and colonists to benefit today. She says the church must also partake in reconciliation efforts. She also provides a list of links that […]
The film ‘Healing Winds’ is based on the personal history of the filmmaker. It focuses on a psychiatrist who travels to the Arctic region of Nunavik and his interactions with a patient named Reepah who is recovering from the trauma experienced in residential school. Due to the intense and painful subject matter, the film took […]
Unlike schools of the past, Native American boarding schools still in existence have become places where students have the opportunity to thrive academically. Tim O’Neal is one of those students. Previously he lived in Wyoming where he was failing school and eventually transferred to the Chemawa Indian School in Salem, Oregon. He excelled at Chemawa, […]
Synod responded to a report published on the Doctrine of Discovery by calling the document heresy and cited the damage and pain it has caused, specifically by forcing Native children into boarding schools. One of the church run schools was operated by the Christian Reformed Church (CRC) and called Rehoboth Christian School. Experiences at the […]
5 stories are told about children who died after they left residential school in Canada. In each case, the students left in the winter, often battling the elements in an attempt to survive. Sometimes a student left alone, or in a small group. Exposure was often the cause of death, and the schools did not […]
Several Aboriginal musicians from Canada explain how residential school and their various life experiences inspired them to create music based on their heritage and the experiences of Indigenous people. Historically, the issues Indigenous musicians sing about remain unknown to the dominant population due to the lack of awareness of this type of music. Now more […]
At a Canadian residential school, Willie Blackwater stood up to his abuser and was able to stop him and other students from facing further abuse and was able to live with a family during the school year. This experience showed him it was possible to fight back against the system trying to oppress him and […]
